Notable stakeholders in the criminal justice system gathered in Lagos recently to brainstorm on protracted high-profile corruption cases and how they can be resolved, OLADIMEJI RAMON reports
Concerned about many unresolved high-profile criminal cases littering the courts across the country, stakeholders in the justice sector recently converged on Lagos for a round-table discussion aimed at dissecting the issues and finding possible solutions.
The round-table discussion was tagged, “Strategies and approaches for successful completion and effective prosecution of abandoned or unresolved high-profile cases of corruption in Nigeria.”
It was organised by a human rights advocacy group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, in collaboration with Trust Africa.
Present were the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), who was represented by the Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Prosecution, Mr. Okoi Obono-Obla; and the acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, who was represented by the Head of Legal Department, EFCC, Mr. G.K. Latona.
Among the others were the Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN); and the President of the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, Prof. Yemi Akinseye-George (SAN), who delivered the lead paper during the discussion.
Akinseye-George pointed out that most of the high-profile corruption cases that had remained unresolved for about a decade involve mainly politically-exposed persons or public office-holders, both serving and retired, including ministers, governors, legislators and judges.
He recalled that among such cases is the N5bn alleged fraud case of a former governor of Enugu State, Chimaroke Nnamani, which began in May 2007 but has yet to be concluded and seemed to have been swept under the carpet since 2015.
Another example of such cases, where charges were filed and the case was never decided one way or the other by the court, was that of a former Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, who the EFCC accused of illegally taking N10m from the N300m unspent funds in the 2007 budget of the federal Ministry of Health.
Though it is nine years after the EFCC filed the charges in court, the ex-President’s daughter has neither been pronounced guilty nor innocent. The case just fizzled out.
Akinseye-George said courts across the country are littered with such unresolved high-profile corruption cases, but due to lack of proper record, the problem has not been appropriately estimated.
He recommended, therefore, that the first steps in tackling these protracted cases would be creation of a database for all corruption cases and also to improve case tracking by journalists and civil society organisations, so as to keep them on the front burner and to make it difficult for them to be swept under the carpet.
Akinseye-George said, “Without such a database of all such cases, resolved and unresolved, plea bargained and ongoing, and their outcomes, we cannot conduct a meaningful assessment of the fight against corruption.”
He advised that the Federal Government, through the AGF, should take steps to “collate all the unresolved cases; obtain the record of proceedings; review the charges; conduct an assessment of the status of each case (case-by-case analysis) and where there is evidence, relaunch the cases.”
Unresolved high-profile corruption cases have special pathway
Akinseye-George said there is an observed pattern or course that high-profile corruption cases take to get protracted and become unresolved.
He noted that the arrest and arraignment of such persons usually generate frenzy in the media, but soon after that the defendants, through their lawyers, would raise preliminary objections, challenging the competence of the charges and the jurisdiction of the court to entertain their cases.
The judge would rule, dismissing such preliminary objections in most cases, after which the defendants would file an appeal and ask for stay of proceedings to await the outcome of the appeal.
While proceedings have been suspended, the appeal would travel for many years up to the Supreme Court, which would then, in most cases, dismiss the appeal and ask the defendants to go back to the trial court for the case to be re-opened.
Akinseye-George said this scenario perfectly described the cases of former governors of Plateau and Abia states, Joshua Dariye and Orji Uzor Kalu, respectively, where the Supreme Court decried dilatory tactics by accused persons.
ACJA intervention
The passage of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 by ex-President Goodluck Jonathan marked the dawn of a new era in the Nigerian criminal justice system, as the law, among many other radical provisions, abolished stay of proceedings.
But Akinseye-George said it is not yet Uhuru as defence lawyers have started to deploy other tricks, which were not envisaged by the ACJA, to delay criminal cases and keep them perpetually in court.
Among such new dilatory tricks, according to Akinseye-George, are long cross-examination of witnesses by defence lawyers; intimidation of judges through petitions and complaints of alleged bias; filing of no-case submission and constant resort to appeal as exemplified by the ongoing N400m alleged fraud case of a former Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Olisa Metuh.
Therefore, Sagay advocated “stiff punishment for counsel, particularly Senior Advocates, who have turned obstruction and frustration of proceedings in high-profile corruption cases into an art.”
He said such punishment for SANs must include denial of right of appearance in such high-profile and grand corruption cases.
He challenged the prosecutors to always insist on the full application of Sections 306 and 396 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act on abolition of stay of proceedings.
Sagay said the prosecutors must also insist on Section 396(3) and (4) of the ACJA which stipulate that “hearings shall be on a daily basis, but in exceptional cases, while adjournments, not to be in excess of 14 working days, may be granted, but such adjournments must not exceed five in any proceedings.”
What must be done
Akinseye-George said the solution to the problem of unresolved high-profile cases would take no less than institutional reforms, stressing that the three arms of government must be willing to come together and show equal commitment to achieving genuine results.
He said citizens and individuals should not be left out of the task too.
On the part of the executive arm of government, Akinseye-George said there should be a commitment to overhaul the entire anti-corruption apparatus.
He said, “Conduct a performance appraisal of each staff of the anti-corruption agencies and remove the bad eggs. Those who are found worthy should be retained to form the nucleus of the reformed anti-graft bodies and set up an attractive package to attract the best available personnel.”
The don noted that investigators and prosecutors of high-profile corruption cases face uncommon challenges, which have to be understood by the policymakers in order to adequately equip and empower them for success.
He said due to the clandestine nature of financial crimes, they are difficult to track and where they are tracked, the investigators are susceptible to being compromised through bribery.
He said, “Conscious and deliberate efforts should be made to understand the challenges facing investigators of high-profile corruption and financial crimes. There should be early engagement between investigators and prosecutors.”
He added that efforts should be made to provide the investigators and prosecutors with “better tools, pay them better, provide better protection for them, reward them, weed out non-performers and celebrate outstanding personnel.”
Why the public must buy in
Akinseye-George said corruption has become endemic and the jobs of investigators and prosecutors have become more difficult due to toleration and celebration of corrupt people by the people.
He noted that notorious clichés like ‘Public money is nobody’s money’; ‘Chop make I chop’ and ‘Why are they witch-hunting (sic) the opposition?’, have become rife, underscoring public apathy to the anti-graft war.
To inspire the people’s confidence and get them enlisted in the struggle to beat corruption, therefore, according to Akinseye-George, remains a task for the government.
Banking reforms
But he observes that efforts at finding a lasting solution to the problem of corruption would be incomplete without institutional reforms in the banking sector.
He said, “Discourage cash transactions; abolish cash transactions nationwide! And leverage on financial intelligence.”
Role of judiciary
He said the judiciary must take steps to address “the general impression that the judiciary is lenient towards high-profile corrupt persons.”
While advocating improved funding and better welfare for judges as well as respect for them by the executive and legislature, Akinseye-George said the National Judicial Council too must “deal with issues of corruption within its fold.”
Burden of proof must be shifted to defendants
Akinseye-George said the constitutional presumption of innocence makes it extremely difficult to prove allegations of corruption in an adversarial system that Nigeria operates. He said except this is reversed, conviction of high-profile corrupt persons will remain a mirage.
He said, “X, a public officer, is on a salary of N9m a year. He has in his possession about N150m that year. Who else can explain how the officer came by the N150m?
“If a person is found with some money or property that cannot be correlated with his verifiable earnings, let him prove it.”
He stressed, “We must place the burden on suspects of HPCC to justify the funds and properties found in their possession or under their control.”
The professor of Law said contrary to assumption within the judiciary, shifting the burden of proof from the prosecution to the defendants does not require an amendment to the constitution.
Akinseye-George said, “Our judges can use the provisions of Section 36(5) and 36(11) of the Constitution and Section 167(d) of the Evidence Act to place the evidential burden on individuals suspected to be living above their justifiable income.”
Role of legislature
For the legislature, the task is to show commitment to the passage of all outstanding laws aimed at tackling corruption.
Akinseye-George said the lawmakers must do this task not minding that some members of the National Assembly have corruption cases hanging on their necks.
One of the anti-corruption laws begging for the attention of the legislators, Akinseye-George said, is “the Proceeds of Crime Act.”
He explained, “The Proceeds of Crime Act provides legal backing for civil standards in assets confiscation cases. But it may not be passed because of the strained relationship between the National Assembly and the executive and also due to lack of proactive support for POCA by civil society organizations.”
AGF urged to implement suggestions
SERAP, in a letter dated September 15, 2017, by its Executive Director, Adetokinbo Mumuni, to the AGF, called for the implementation of the recommendations that came from the round-table deliberations.
Mumumi said, “We would like to urge you to use your good offices and leadership to secure the full and effective implementation by your ministry of the key recommendations culled from the media round-table.”